Sales + Enablement. Easy enough? Well, it’s more than merely combining both terms. A recent study conducted by Hubspot revealed that Sales Enablement suggests different things to different people:
There are no wrong or right answers. Think about it this way. All these elements could be classified into three groups. At its core, sales enablement is all about giving your salesforce a boost by giving them the right content, the right guidance, and the right tools.
Right Content
Content is one of the most effective selling tools your sales team can use. It provides information that your prospects will need to move along the buyer’s journey. It creates opportunities for engagement, building rapport between your sales rep and the audience. Content will also help you strengthen your relationship with the target market as they become leads, and leads become customers.
But as we mention time and again, content must be personal to be effective. Sales reps should know their audience to be able to give them the content they need, in a format they want. Sales team must also have these content pieces at the ready.
Right Guidance
Excellent salespeople are not born; you teach them to be effective. Coaching, training, and individual mentoring are essential to the success of your team and your brand. But to know how to guide them, you have to know where they stand. You have to assess your people’s performance carefully. What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? What are opportunities for learning? From these data, you can create modules that address the team’s specific needs.
And learning should never stop. Coaching and training sessions must be consistent. You have to keep up with the trends. You have to stay current with the market needs, needs that are evolving faster and faster as we speak. Sir Francis Bacon wasn’t kidding when he said, “Knowledge is power.”
Coaching and training will be more productive if you have the right people in your team. They don’t have to be superstar sales execs. They just have to be the right fit for the job – the necessary skills, the commitment to learn and a passion for success.
Right tools
You can have the best salespeople in the world, but if they are not equipped with the right tools and support system, your team will not be as successful. But what tools do they need? Aside from charm and wit, the sales team needs tools to segment their contact to help them customize content. The team also needs tools to track metrics so they can adjust their approach. Automation software can also help salespeople set-up effective and efficient processes, letting them focus on what matters.
Currently, different sales CRM tools offer these services in a bundle. You should review them and see if it’s helpful for your business. When deciding, consider the size of your team, the alignment of these tools with your other infrastructures, the ability to upgrade, and of course the price. Choose the one that works best for you.
Sales are the bread and butter of your company. If you don’t sell, you don’t profit, and you don’t grow. So don’t be afraid to invest in the process, in the people, and in the tools. But remember, to enable your sales team, you should be strategic.
- Set your goals.
- Build a roadmap on how to achieve those goals
- Integrate your sales enablement approach with the roadmap. Align it with other elements of your brand (ex. Business development, marketing, production, etc.).
- Measure your success using industry standard metrics and your business’ targets.
